Meet Google Developers Group NH
Doug Parsons
Co-Founder of GDGNH
In A Nutshell . . . Tell Us About Your Startup Resource.
Google Developers Group New Hampshire is a community of people interested in getting creative with Google technologies.
We meet monthly, and sometimes more frequently, to explore specific technologies from augmented and virtual reality to Web APIs and everything in between. In these events we connect people who know the topics, people who want to learn, and often people who want to hire those folks.
The group was started in 2014. There are about 600 Google Developer Groups (GDGs) worldwide. We receive technical materials and training from Google but each group is independent. Our community decides what interests to pursue and how to go about it. While there’s always a Google aspect to what we do, we also branch out into other areas.
What niche are you filling?
We serve as an educational resource for people interested in a broad range of technologies. Let’s say you’re an innovator with a great idea for a mobile Android application but you’re not a programmer. You want to find partners or hire developers, but first you’d like to understand some of the technologies that could be used to make your idea reality.
Sure, there are online courses, but where can you go to talk with people about it in person, get the pros and cons, and build business and personal connections at the same time? That’s where we come in.
While we have in-depth expertise in a number of areas, we cover a broad range of topics at a high level and guide people toward technologies and tools that can best help them.
New Hampshire has a wealth of great technology-specific user and developer groups besides ours, so we might aim someone toward the JavaScript developers meetups, or the Data and Analytics meetups, depending on what seems like the best fit.
Who or what was your best resource in helping your program get off the ground?
Alpha Loft gave us the space to hold our regular meetups — and Mike Cashion, a manager there, has been especially helpful in getting us hooked into the community and boosting awareness of us on social media.
Local product development company Sunrise Labs has sponsored many of our events.
And of course there’s Google, which provides independent developer groups like ours with all sorts of great materials and technologies.
A lot of people gave their time and energy to get us going, notably the other GDG NH co-organizers (Sarfraz Ahmad, Bill Schongar, and Dan Konig), Dan Pinard, who’s helping lead the Android Beginners course, and former organizer Ben Fortner, who started the group in 2014 and led it for the first year.
What does the future look like?
Amazing. We’ve really just begun to hit our stride with events and awareness of our activities, and with so much new technology always coming out there are always new things to explore and new connections to make.
We’re currently meeting a lot of future mobile app developers at the free Android Development for Beginners series we’ve been running at UNH Manchester in March and April, and looking forward to having more events like this in the future. Some members would also like to do group programming projects and hackathons.
How can people get involved?
Contact us or just show up for a meeting. Find out more at our GDG NH Meetup site. We’re a free, attendee-driven group and we take our cues for future programs from the interests of people who attend. We welcome experts and beginners, companies and individuals. We’re an informal group who loves to learn and share.